Coaching In Japanese Psychology

Naikan, Morita, Kaizen

My intentions to bring presence to my life:
I'm grateful for all that I have, in this moment — I want for nothing.
I'm grateful for all that I am, in this moment — I have all that I need.
I am grateful for all that I am becoming, in this moment, with peace, ease, and grace.
— Jorgen

What this is not

This is not Western talk therapy. It does not analyze your past in order to change your feelings. It's not looking through rose-colored glasses that everything is fine, although a sense of being centered, of being okay even when my thoughts and feelings say otherwise, is a natural byproduct.

It is not a quick fix to make you feel better. It's not motivational. It's not going to fix you. It also does not dismiss modern psychology if you are in therapy, this work can exist alongside it rather than replacing it.

I am not a licensed therapist. I am not here to treat, diagnose, interpret, or judge you.

You're accountable and responsible for your own well-being.

What this is: a way to constructively live life.

What I have done is lived through difficult periods of my life and learned, through practice, that waiting to feel better before acting only prolongs suffering. I didn't arrive at this through one modality.

I was seeking a better way, interested in my own well-being.

I used what worked. I practiced it, and always will. That is still how I live.

This is the uncomfortable stretch before a workout the kind that feels so good once it's done. This is looking inward.

Why We Feel Stuck

Where this comes from:

Through years of study and practice, I received certification in Naikan and Morita practice. In finding a better way for myself, what blossomed was a desire to help others seeking a more meaningful way to live, freedom from the perspectives that trap us in a loop of thought and behavior.

From a Morita perspective:

feelings are natural. If you have a body, you will have feelings and thoughts you really can't control. They rise and fall on their own.

Unconscious fear. Unconscious thoughts. Knee-jerk reactions.

They live inside future fantasies about our lives, the fantasies quietly built from the past. And they block movement in the present moment, because some part of us fears this moment will somehow resemble a painful one already lived.

Can you coexist with these thoughts and feelings anyway?

From a Naikan perspective:

Life is shaped by how we take responsibility for our own actions and participate with others. Naikan adds one more question to sit with:

1. What have I received or been given from others?

2.What have I returned or given to others?

3. What troubles and difficulties have I caused others?

From a Kaizen perspective:

This is the strategy of small steps toward a purpose. The doing. Creating new thinking and behavior habits. Building character, one small action at a time.

These tools are used as a moment to pause and reflect to see more clearly, to be more present in our interactions with life, and to observe how life supports us, even when we are standing in our own way.

This work begins here.

If something here feels familiar, or it resonates with you, you are in the right place.

The orientation of this work

What are you paying attention to?

Too much attention to feelings and thoughts, the focus on our feelings and thoughts as if this is who we are (shinkeishitsu) suffering or consumed with ones own feelings and thoughts.

Chasing the perfect time, the perfect place, the perfect moment, thinking then my life will be okay.

No perfect self. No perfect moment. Feelings are feelings, thoughts are thoughts. Still, there is much to do. So do it.

A life lived with awareness of those same three questions

received, given, and the trouble caused.

There is much more to this that we get into later.

At some point, I was likely where you are focused on my feelings and thoughts.

Naikan and Morita don't ask you to be positive.

They ask you to look honestly.

If something in this language slows you down, that's enough.

How I work with people

We look at what you're receiving from others, what effort is being made, what you've returned or given to others, what difficulties you've caused others, what you're avoiding, and what actions are appropriate now sometimes through sound, breath, or silence in meditation or reflection.

In practice, this often moves through Kaizen-style steps: small, honest, repeatable actions taken while the feelings and thoughts are still there, not after they've resolved.

Testemonial

"Naikan coaching has been life changing."

"I started working with Jorgen last spring, attending my first one-day silent retreat. In August, a three-day silent retreat. Coaching one-on-one has taken this healing to a whole new level. A career change within 30 days of one-on-one coaching has felt like a gift. The deepest gratitude in helping to repair relationships I never thought possible to repair in this lifetime. I highly recommend coaching sessions with Jorgen. It's way cheaper than talk therapy in my opinion, it is more effective for diving deep into personal growth.

Patience is his truest virtue."

What To Expect

Every relationship starts with a free 30-minute introductory call a chance to see if we're a match, no obligation.

From there, sessions run 60–90 minutes at $150 per session, available by phone, video, or in person.

A typical session may include the Naikan three questions, working with Morita's approach to reality versus feelings and thoughts, and identifying small Kaizen-style steps toward action taken while still feeling and thinking exactly as you do right now.

You are welcome here.